Madurai doctors treat woman’s rare adrenal gland tumours with less invasive procedure

MADURAI: Doctors in a private hospital in Madurai have treated a 33-year-old woman from Sivaganga district with bilateral pheochromocytoma, a rare case of tumours in both adrenal glands by performing a laparoscopic procedure, cortical-sparing adrenalectomy. The surgery is less invasive, and the patient does not have to depend on medication lifelong.

Addressing a press meet on Tuesday, doctors of Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) noted that only 10% of patients with pheochromocytoma present with bilateral tumours. “The size of the tumour in the right adrenal gland was 10cm and that on the left was 2cm. Due to tumours, the patient was having high blood pressure,” said Dr Ramesh Ardhanari, medical director, head and senior consultant with the department of surgical gastroenterology.

Dr Ardhanari, Dr N Mohan, senior consultant with the surgical gastroenterology department, and Dr N Maharajan, senior consultant and head of the department of anaesthesiology, performed a two-hour long procedure on January 8.

“We removed the right adrenal gland. We spared the normally functioning cortex of the left adrenal gland. The treatment helped a swift recovery post-surgery,” added Ardhanari.

There were no complications during and after the surgery.


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